\ 




c opyl ie CENTENNIAL 

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1876. 



Special Message from the President to both. Houses of Congress, 

transmitting Reports from the United States 

Centennial Commission. 

THE PRESIDENT RECOMMENDS THE EXHIBITION, AND UR^ES 
PROMPT ACTION BY CONGRESS. 



To the Senate and House of Representatives : 

I have the honor herewith to submit the report of the 
Centennial Commissioners, and to add a word in the way 
of recommendation. 

There have now been International Expositions held 
by three of the great powers of Europe. It seems fitting 
that the one hundredth Anniversary of our Independence 
should be marked by an event that will display to the 
world the growth and progress of a nation devoted to 
freedom and to the pursuit of fame, fortune and honors 
by the lowest citizen as well as the highest. 

A failure in this enterprise would be deplorable. Suc- 
cess can be assured by arousing public opinion to the im- 
portance of the occasion. 

To secure this end, in my judgment, Congressional legis- 
lation is necessary, to make the Exposition both national 
and international. 

The benefits to be derived from a successful Interna- 
tional Exposition are manifold. It will necessarily be ac- 
companied by expenses beyond the receipts from the Expo- 
sition itself, but they will be compensated for many fold by 
the commingling of people from all sections of our own 
country, by bringing togelher the people of different na- 



2 

tionalities ; by bringing into juxtaposition, for ready ex- 
amination, our own and foreign skill and progress in man. 
ufaetures, agriculture, art, science, and civilization. 

The selection of the site for the Exposition seems to me 
appropriate, from the fact that one hundred years before 
the date fixed for the Exposition the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which launched us into the galaxy of nations 
as an independent people, emanated from the same spot. 

We have much in our varied climate, soil, mineral pro- 
ducts and skill, of which advantage can betaken by other 
nationalities to their profit. In return, they will bring to 
our shores works of their skill, and familiarize our people 
with them, to the mutual advantage of all parties. 

Let us have a complete success in our Centennial Expo- 
sition, or suppress it in its infancy, acknowledging an 
inability to give it the international character to which 
our self-esteem aspires. 

(Signed) U. S. GRANT. 

Executive Mansion, February 25, 1874. 



THE CENTENNIAL: 

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1S76 AND NATIONAL 
CELEBRATION OF THE 

CENTENARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE ; 

Reports from the United States Centennial Commission trans- 
mitted to Congress by the President . 



Oefice of United States Centennial Commission, 
Philadelphia, Feb. 23, 1874. 
To the President: 

Section 18 of the act approved June 4, 1872, provides 
"That it shall be the duty of the United States Centen- 
nial Commission to make report, from time to time, to the 
President of the United States, of the progress of the 
work entrusted to it." 

In obedience to that requirement, and referring to pre- 
vious communications made by the Commission <o the 
President and to Congress, under the respective dates of 
the 23d of November, 1872, and the 21st of February, 1873, 
the undersigned, President of the United States Centen- 
nial Commission, has the honor to report on behalf of the 
Commission, as follows : 

Since the date of the report submitted to Congress in Feb- 
ruary, 1873, a fourth sessiou of the Commission has been 
held in Philadelphia, which commenced May 7, and 
ended May 13, 1873. A copy of the Journal of Proceed- 
ings of that session, including the report of the Execu- 
tive Committee, is annexed, (Appendix B.) 

In order to secure an efficient and prompt administra- 
tion of the executive business of the Commission at Phil- 
adelphia, several amendments were made to the Bj-laws, 
among which was the introduction of an article (VI) au- 
thorizing the Executive Committee to elect one of its 
own members to be Director-General. By virtue of that 



* 






authority, Mr. A. T. Goshorn, a member of the Com mis 
sion from Ohio, was, on the 12th of May, 1873, unanimously 
elected to that office. He was invested with full execu- 
tive control of the affairs of the Commission, subject to 
the approval of the Executive Committee. 

Mr. Goshorn entered upon his duties on the 14th of 
October last, after having visited the International Exhi- 
bition at Vienna, which he carefully examined, with a 
view to avail himself of such light as might be derived 
therefrom in the direction of the affairs entrusted to him. 
In concert with the Executive Committee, he has organ- 
ized the office of the Commission, and prepared regula- 
tions for the formation of the Exhibition. 

Much valuable information was obtained concerning 
the Vienna Exhibition by the agents employed by the 
Commission for the purpose; and with the data in relation 
to preceding international exhibitions, collected from offi- 
cial reports, it has been of great assistance in developing 
the arrangement ot plans and organization for that of 
1876. The reports of those agents, Messrs. William P. 
Blake and Henry Pettit, will be found in the appendices 
transmitted herewith. 

With the report made by the Commission to Congress 
in February, 1873, (House Mis. Doc. No. 89, 43d Congress, 
3d Sess., pp. 157 to 167,) were extracts from the official ac- 
counts of receipts and expenses of the French Commission 
of the Paris Exposition of 1867. 

Those accounts, together with those of other recent 
exhibitions, illustrate a most important and significant 
principle, which experience in universal expositions has 
more and more fully developed and established with each 
succeeding one: — that the benefits of such exhibitions to 
the country giving them, and to the cause of general pro- 
gress, are such as to justify and require an appropriation 
on the part of the government which is responsible to 
other powers for the success of such an undertaking, and 
it is impossible to imagine how a power within whose 
boundaries such a concourse of industries and people takes 
place can evade the responsibility. 

This national undertaking has now reached that phase 
at which, in an international sense, it is to be decided 
whether the United States, as a republican nation, will 
fulfil that l'esponsibility. They have already, so far as 
relates to foreign governments, assumed it, and the Com- 



mission, acting as the agent of the States, does not know 
how to retrace the steps which have heen taken, without 
discredit and injury to the national reputation. They 
have already pledged themselves to compete with other 
governments in promoting, through international exhibi- 
tions, the cause of human advancement in the arts and 
industries that are the foundation of the wealth and pros- 
perity of all nations. 

In the case of the Paris Exposition of 1867, the Na- 
tional Government of France and the city of Paris pro- 
vided about three-fifths of the capital for the purposes of 
the exhibition, and the balance was made up by private 
subscriptions. 

The financial basis of the Austrian International Exhi- 
bition of 1873 was as follows : 

1st. The sum of one million five hundred thousand 
dollars was subscribed chiefly by the Trades Unions of 
"Vienna. 

2d. The Imperial Government unreservedly appropri- 
ated four and a half millions of dollars, and added to this 
a loan, Avithout interest, of one and a half million, making 
six million derived from the Government for the purpose 
of the exhibition. 

From the facts thus presented, it appears that European 
Governments exhibit their practical sympathy in the cause 
of labor and science, by a recognition of their just claims 
upon the public treasury, for a sufficient amount of pe- 
cuniary airi to insure the success of these temporary expo- 
sitions. 

It is respectfully submitted that the Government of the 
United States, if true to its principles and its traditional 
devotion to the interests and elevation of labor, and the 
promotion of universal progress, will certainly not refuse 
to follow those precedents established by European gov- 
ernments. 

Past international exhibitions have been, to some ex- 
tent, experimental, but the common judgment of civilized 
nations proclaims their success in advancing every branch 
of industry, science, and national development ; in diffus- 
ing throughout the world the most advanced ideas ; knowl- 
edge of the latest improvements in manufactures and me- 
chanical inventions ; in methods and processes as well as 



6 

in products, and also in promoting social and commercial 
intercourse between the people of the various countries. 

European Governments perceiving the benefits specially 
accruing to the nations in which such exhibitions are held, 
have emulated each other in their efforts to secure the 
privilege of holding them.* 

The reports received through several channels, concern- 
ing the action of foreign governments in regard to the 
President's recommendation* to them of the Exhibition, 
are such as to encourage the belief that, if the President 
had been authorized to give a more direct and explicit in- 
vitation, the acceptances would have been more general 
and prompt. 

The Secretary of State has informed the Commission 
that the governments of the following countries have offi- 
cially communicated their decision to participate in the 
Exhibition, viz: the German Empire, the Netherlands, 
Belgium, Mexico, Ecuador, and Hayti. The Secretary of 
State has made known the gratifying fact that Prince 
Bismarck, the Chancellor of that Empire, in communi- 
cating printed copies of the communications of this gov- 
ernment on the subject to the German Parliament, recom- 
mended a participation in the Exhibition and provision 
for the appointment of a commission for each State of the 
Empire, as well as a Plenipotentiary to reside at Philadel- 
phia until the close of the Exhibition. The Pepublic ot 
Ecuador has not only accepted, but has already appointed a 
Commissioner Resident, who has presented his credentials 
at Philadelphia. A dispatch received from the Honorable 
George P. Marsh, through the Department of State, gives 
reason for the belief that the Kingdom of Italy will add to 
the attractions of the Exhibition by a display of speci- 
mens of the treasures of art and manufactures for which 
that kingdom is so justly celebrated. 

From dispatches received from the Minister of the 
United States at Vienna, the confident belief is enter- 
tained that the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be con- 
spicuously represented in our Exhibition by the extent, 
variety and excellence of her products. 



*While the ViennaExhibition was open, it was reported in the German Press that a Ger- 
man Committee was preparing for an international exhibition in the German Empire, to have 
tiken place about 1868, but lor the announcement ot our own, which, besides the official 
notice to Governments, was made known to ,the exhibitors and Visitors at Vienna, by 
the distribution of copies of the President's Proclamation and official papers, printed in 
the four principal languages of Europe. 



-■■■ m i * .. 






It should be remembered that the proposed Exhibition 
is, by the act of Congress authorizing it, invested with the 
•character of a National Celebration of the centenary of 
American Independence, and by the same authority has 
been so proclaimed and so commended to foreign nations 
by the President of the United States, and that the max- 
imum amount of capital to be raised was fixed at ten mil- 
lions of dollars. It should be considered, too, that the 
cost of labor and of material is greater in the United 
States than in Europe. It is submitted, therefore, that 
the amount to be appropriated by Congress should be pro- 
portioned with reference to these facts, and with refer- 
ence also to the degree of aid which experience has shown 
to be requisite from the Governments under whose au- 
spices the latest and most extensive of such exhibitions 
have been held. 

It is the desire of the Commission that whatever appro- 
priation is made should be guarded by such wise provi- 
sions and administered under such governmental con- 
trol as will insure its judicious expenditure for the pur- 
poses intended. 

The recent almost unprecedented depression in manu- 
factures, trade and finance has interfered with the pro- 
gress of subscriptions to the stock of the Centennial Board 
of Finance and with the payment of installments due on 
those already made. Tnis state of affairs affords another 
imperative reason for such action by Congress as will pro- 
vide sufficient and timely appropriations to guarantee the 
success of the national undertaking. 

Pennsylvania stands pledged by an act of her Legi- 
slature for one million dollars, and the City of Philadel- 
phia for a half million, to be expended upon a building 
to be used by the Commission as a Gallery of Fine Art, 
which building will be a very imposing and beautiful ad- 
dition to the groupe, and will remain as a perpetual me- 
morial of the occasion. A copy of the plans of this build- 
ing is annexed hereto (Appendix A, enclosure 1.) The 
people of Pennsylvania, in addition to these State and 
municipal appropriations, have subscribed to the stock of 
the Centennial Board of Finance about one and a half 
million of dollars, which will go into the general fund 
for the expenses of the work of the Commission as it pro- 
gresses. This provision for about three times the quota 
.apportioned to the State may be regarded as fully couuter- 



8 

balancing any peculiar advantage to the State growing- 
out of the location of the Exhibition, and is as much as 
could be justly claimed from her, in view of the national 
character of the celebration of which the Exhibition is 
the chief demonstrative element. 

Notwithstanding that opportunities have been gizen 
in all the States and Territories by general advertisement, 
the agency of National Banks, and in other ways, the 
amount of actual subscriptions to date from such States 
and Territories indicates that from this source the means 
could not be secured in time for use in prosecuting the 
work, if at all. 

The commission has information that preparations £,re 
in progress throughout the country to make the most 
creditable exhibits of the products and industries of the 
nation, and that this feature of the exhibition is assured 
beyond any doubt; but as the enterprise is regarded as a 
national one, there is an unwillingness to contribute money 
for the preparation and installation of the exhibition, 
which it is regarded as specially incumbent on the national 
Government to provide for. While many of the States of 
the Union are not in a financial condition to contribute 
money for this purpose, the citizens thereof express the 
warmest sympathy in the success of the enterprise, and 
will give it their cordial support so far as it is in their 
power. 

Steps have been taken to secure a proper representation 
of the products of every State and Territorj^. 

Among the various interests seeking a representation in 
the Exhibiton, those relating to mines and miniuo; will be 
greatly benefited, and this will promote largely the pros- 
perity and development of the States and Territories in 
which the mines represented may be located. A large 
quantity of valuable specimens haseven now been collected 
in some of the Western Territories, and they are ready for 
shipment. Such arrangements will be made as will result 
in displaying to the world a perfect representation of the 
wonderful resources of the country in the precious metals, 
and in coal, iron, steel, copper, lead, and other minerals. 

Associations and individuals representing these various 
interests have offered their co-operation, and are perfecting 
plans for securing an exhibition of all the industries per- 
taining to them. 

The agricultural resources and industries, and the im 



•»-->- M 



plements which are used in those industries, will form a 
prominent and attractive feature of the occasion ; and the 
exhibition of horses, cattle, and other domestic animals 
will be most extensive and thorough. 

The Department of Agriculture, State Boards of Agri- 
culture, and nearly all the societies and associations rep- 
resenting agriculture and horticulture in all their branches, 
have signified their deep interest in the subject, and offered 
their aid and co-operation. 

The Executive Departments of the General Government 
also have manifested a similar interest and disposition, and 
the Executive order providing for their representation in 
the Exhibition meets with general approval. 

The exhibition of fishery products and of the apparatus 
for capturing and preserving fish will be an interesting, 
instructive, and valuable feature of the display. It will 
embrace a general collection, representing the fisheries of 
the world and all the apparatus and science of fish culture. 
Gentlemen learned in this study are deeply interested in 
preparing for the Exposition. 

The National Academy of Eine Arts, of New York, and 
other art associations, offered their co-operation with the 
Commission in any organized effort to make the Fine Art 
Department of the Exhibition worthy of the occasion in 
its representation of American and foreign art in all 
branches. 

Information from Europe shows that a deep interest is 
taken in the exhibition by our own artists who are so- 
journing at the great art centres, and that the}' are pre- 
paring for an honorable competition. 

Associations or societies of all kinds throughout the 
country have manifested their sympathy with the Com- 
mission, and their desire to be instrumental in promoting 
its work on behalf of the nation. 

The benefits the American people will derive from the 
exhibition are by no means confined to the exhibition of 
American resources and products of art and industry. 
The arts of design will be represented in a manner never 
before possible on this continent. The products of the 
mechanic arts and manufactures of Europe and the 
Eastern nations will undoubtedly be represented on a 
grand and comprehensive scale, and not alone the pro- 
ducts, but descriptions or illustrations of the methods 
and processes of their production will be given. Thus 



10 

will be afforded to the millions of mechanics and artists, 
and to the pupils of technical and industrial schools who 
may be unable to visit foreign countries an opportunity 
to examine and study all that is most valuable and in- 
structive in foreign arts and industries. Europe will 
come to them with its machinery and wares so arranged 
and classified, that they can view them as a whole, or 
study them in detail, and utilize their teachings. 

The scope of the exhibition is broad and comprehensive. 
All the products of industry, art, science, and modern 
civilization, are covered by its classification. 

In the formation of the system of classification and . ar- 
rangements of the various objects, the governing idea has 
been to place them in the order of development from the 
natural state, placing first: 

1. The natural products of the soil or mine useful to 
man, or a basis of manufactures. 

2. The manufactures and results of the combinations of 
these products. 

3. The means and applianses by which such results have 
been accomplished. 

4. The effects of such productive activity. 

This is a general expression of the classification. There 
are ten comprehensive divisions, called departments, and 
each department is divided into ten groups, and when de- 
sirable each group may include ten classes. 

The ten departments of the classification which will 
determine the section in which articles will be located in 
the Exhibition, except in such collective exhibitions as 
may receive special sanction, andalso the arrangement of 
names in the catalogue are as follows: 

I. Raw materials, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal. 

II. Materials and Manufactures used for Food, or in 
. the Arts, the result of extractive or combining 
processes. 

III. Textile and Felted Fabrics ; Apparel, Costumes, 

and Ornaments for the person. 

IV. Furniture and Manufactures of general use in 

construction and in dwellings. 

V. Tools, Implements, Machines and processes. 
VI. Motors and Transportation. 



m 



11 

VII. Apparatus and Methods for the increase and dif- 
fusion of knowledge. 
VIII. Engineering, Public Works, Architecture, etc. 
IX. Plastic and Graphic Arts. 
X. Objects illustrating efforts for the improvement 
of the Physical, Intellectual, and Moral condition of Man. 
The proposed exhibition is projected upon a plan secur- 
ing the strictest economy compatible with its character 
as a national celebration, and with its international pro- 
portions. 

The Women's Centennial Executive Committee, a vol- 
untary association under the Presidency of Mrs. E. J). Gilles- 
pie, of Philadelphia, who is a grand-daughter of Benjamin 
Franklin, has done and is doing a good work in promot- 
ing the success of subscriptions, and the general interest in 
the celebration,and is now represented in twenty-four States 
and Territories. In the State of Pennsylvania alone, they 
have raised upwards of fifty thousand dollars in subscrip- 
tions to the stock, of the Centennial Board of Finance, and 
some thousands- of dollars from the profits on brilliant 
public festivals, which have been of such a nature as to 
recall the incidents and sentiments which had so large a 
share in shaping the destinies of the republic. 

The following States have passed resolutions calling 
upon their Senators and Representatives in Congress to 
lend their support to measures promotive of the success of 
the Exhibition : 

Xorth Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Xew 
Jersey and Xew Hampshire. 

And the subject is under consideration in other States 
and Territories. 

On the Fourth of July, 1873, the transfer of the grounds 
at Fairmount park to the occupancy of the commission, 
and their dedication to the national celebration and In- 
ternational Exhibition, were effected in accordance with 
the requirements of the act of Congress. 

The details of information upon the subject of buildings 
for the principal departments of the Exhibition, will be 
found in the report of the Director General, (Appendix 
A,) which is accompanied with plans and elevations. 

It is a gratifying fact that the enterprise has been quite 
'fully explained in the leading journals of most of the Cap- 
itals of Europe. 



12 

During the last two years the Commissioners nominated 
by the Governors and appointed by the President, have 
been faithfully endeavoring to carry out the act of Con- 
gress of March 3,1871, providing ior celebrating the Cen- 
tennial of American Independence by holding an " Inter- 
national Exhibition in 1876 — an Exhibition of American 
and Foreign Arts, Products and Manufactures, under the 
Auspices of the Government of the United States." The 
legislation of Congress has been the chart of the Commis- 
sion as to the scale of preparation to be made. A national 
and international exhibition on that scale demands enor- 
mous buildings, and involves heavy expenditure. A sec- 
ond act of Congress, already referred to, provided a plan 
for raising that money. The Commission regrets to say 
that, outside of Pennsj'lvania, that plan has not proved 
successful. Preparations had been made for renewing a 
thorough and general appeal throughout the country, 
when the financial storm of last autumn put an in- 
stant check upon our operations. The time has now 
arrived when it is imperatively necessary to proceed 
with the erection of the buildings, but it is an in- 
dispensible prerequisite to know whether the money 
which Congress thought would be raised by the act of 
Jnne 1, 1872, will be furnished in part by Congress. 
There is time enough for the work, but not a month to 
spare. The Commission, therefore, respectfully and earn- 
estly urges submitting this report to Congress as speedily 
as practicable, with such recommendations as to the Pres- 
ident the exigencies of the case may seem to require. 
Respectfully submitted, 

J. P. IIAWLEY, 
President of the United States Centennial Commission. 



14 

the Committee on Plans and Architecture, and approved 
on behalf of the Commission by the Executive Committee. 
Explanatory notes accompany the plans. 

The authors of this plan are Messrs. Calvert Vaux, 
architect, and George Kent Radford, engineer, of the City 
of New York. 

The Memorial llall or permanent Centennial Exposition 
Building, which is to be used as the repository of speci- 
mens of Fine Arts and other precious articles, is to be 
erected at the expense of the State of Pennsylvania and 
the City of Philadelphia. 

The plans, copies of which are annexed, (Enclosures 2, 3, 
4, &c.,) were designed by Messrs. Collins and Autenrieth ,, 
architects, of Philadelphia. The building will beof the most 
subtantial eharacter, and will remain the property of the 
people of Pennsylvania as a memorial structure to be 
used for the preservation and exhibition of National and 
State relics and works of art, industry, mechanism and 
products of the soil and mines, etc., without discrimina- 
tion as to the several States of the United States and For- 
eign Governments. 

In addition to these there will be other buildings re- 
quired,"such as the Machinery IIall,Agricultural and Hor- 
ticultural buildings, and numerous other subsidiary and 
necessary structures.' These buildings, as at present con- 
templated, will cover an area of more than fifty acres. 

Believing that it would be a most interesting and ap- 
propriate feature of the Exhibition, in view of its memo- 
rial character, I proposed to the President, through the 
Secretary of State, a Collective Exhibition on the part of 
the Executive Departments of the General Government 
of such a comprehensive character that visitors at the 
Exhibition would be able to form correct ideas of their 
functions, and examine and compare with other speci- 
mens such objects and articles as are manufactured or 
produced under government supervision for government 
use. 

The President, on the twenty-third of January, 1874, 
issued an executive order, providing for carrying into 
effect these suggestions for a Collective Exhibition for the 
Executive Departments, including, also, the Department 
of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution. 

A copy of the papers relating to this subject, including 
the executive order, is annexed. 



15 

The information received at the office of the commis- 
sion, both from the United States and Foreign countries, 
indicates a growing solicitude on the part of manufac- 
turers and producers to contribute to the exhibition ; and 
in this respect its success is already assured beyond any 
doubt. 

To secure the complete and satisfactory success of the 
Exhibition in every department, it is absolutely necessary 
that sucli appropriations be promptly made by the Na- 
tional Government as will enable this Commission to 
work with those adva itages of government support that 
have been enjoyed *by the managers of recent interna- 
tional exhibitions in Europe. 

Is it not the more incumbent on the Government of 
the United States to extend such aid in this case, because 
the Exhibition is, according to the law authorizing it, a 
national celebration of the origin of the nation ? But 
even without such an incentive, the Government of this 
Republic would be untrue to the very principles on which 
it is founded, were it now to recede from its announced 
intention of adding another to the series of those great 
international concourses which are held in the interests of 
industry and peace, and which do more for the elevation 
of labor and the recognition of its true dignity than any 
other institution of the age. 

Some of the leading industrial nations of Europe, and 
several of the American republics in response to the offi- 
cial communications addressed to them by the Executive 
# of the United States, in obedience to the special require- 
ment of the act of Congress, have, as you are aware, given 
notice of their decision to take part in the international 
exhibition. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

A. T. GOSHORN, 

Director General. 






/ 






[Appendix A.] 

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL. 

Philadelphia, February 12, 1874. 

To the nonorable J. B. Eawley, President of the United States Cen- 
tennial Commission. 

Sir: On entering upon the duties assigned to me as 
Director General, I found that the relations of the Com- 
mission with those which might be appointed hy foreign 
governments required my first care; and early in Novem- 
ber last, I represented to the Honorable the Secretary of 
State the necessity of urging upon the attention of foreign 
governments the importance of obtaining early informa- 
tion of the decisions of such governments as to their par- 
ticipation in the Exhibition of 1876, and of the timely 
appointment of Commissions by those which decided to 
participate. I had first, however, addressed a circular 
letter to the ministers of the United States in Europe and 
another to those in South and Central America, and 
Mexico. Copies are annexed (Enclosure 1.) This step 
was taken in consequence of the absolute necessity of 
learning, at the earliest possible moment, the decisions of 
foreign nations, and the amount of space each would be 
likely to require, so that ample and proper provision 
should be made for each nation accordingly. 

Without this information it is very difficult to estab- 
lish the size and character of the buildings, and to avoid 
the defects which have marred many- features of the finest 
international exhibitions. 

It was found necessary, with as little delay as possible, 
to inaugurate a uniform system of conducting the prepa- 
ration of the exhibition for the several States and Terri- 
tories, under such conditions as would call forth a just 
and ample representation of the arts, industries and re- 
sources of each. Suggestions to secure this end have been 
made to the Governors of the several States and Territories. 
I have the honor to submit, for the information of the 
President and Congress, the preliminary sketches of the 
ground plans, elevations and perspective views of the prin- 
cipal Industrial Building of the Exhibition, selected by 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 930 449 5 ♦ 



